Tacto Mid-Market Survey - Strategic Procurement in Mid-Sized Companies Implemented Very Hesitantly!

• A survey by Munich-based procurement software company Tacto concludes that strategic procurement continues to play a subordinate role in mid-sized companies. More than half of the surveyed mid-sized companies do not plan their procurement strategically.

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• The biggest obstacle for many companies is lack of time and a dominant day-to-day business. 75% of respondents cited this as the reason they cannot focus on strategic planning of their work.

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• The willingness to implement is present in the mid-market: 68% of respondents see the use of analytics tools as an important step that would enable them to implement strategic procurement.

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Munich-based company Tacto presented its second mid-market survey this November. This time, the focus was a status quo analysis of the extent of strategic procurement implementation in mid-sized procurement departments.  

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On the choice of topic, Andre Petry, CEO of Tacto, says:  "Strategic procurement has become immensely important over the last 10-15 years and has been a much-discussed topic not just since the raw materials crisis began. Nevertheless, we consistently receive feedback from new customers and partners that the topic falls by the wayside due to demanding day-to-day operations. This was a motivation to take a closer look at the extent of strategic procurement in mid-sized companies with our status quo analysis."

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The survey of 200 participants from mid-sized procurement departments paints a clear picture: the strategic planning of procurement activities continues to play a subordinate role in the mid-market. 54% of respondents stated that they do not implement active commodity group management in their department. Satisfaction with strategic procurement is rather subdued: 48% are dissatisfied or even very dissatisfied with the implementation of strategic planning in their department.

The reasons for the hesitant implementation are clear: 75% of respondents cite lack of time as the main reason for the lack of implementation. Missing expertise (9%) and budget problems (15%) play a subordinate role in this context. 

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Many mid-sized companies see solutions primarily in digitalization - 68% of respondents could envision advancing their strategic planning primarily through the use of analytics tools. Furthermore, more than half (60%) see the automation of manual tasks as a way to create more time for strategic work.

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Andre Petry adds: "The expertise and the motivation to engage with strategic topics are certainly present in mid-sized departments. For procurement, it is now essential to automate manual tasks as much as possible and thus create room for the strategic side of the business. The digital capabilities for this are ready."

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